Before
the Court is a Motion for Postconviction Relief and Motion
for Appointment of Counsel filed pursuant to Superior Court
Criminal Rule 61 ("Rule 61") by Richard Roth, Jr.,
("Defendant") on October 21, 2016. The Defendant
raises five challenges to the evidence which was used against
him: (1) the State produced two forensic witnesses at trial
who did not conduct the DNA analysis themselves, (2) the
prosecutor committed misconduct by using false identification
testimony, (3) the State was allowed to introduce three
out-of-court statements from witnesses without laying a
proper foundation, (4) there was a violation of a
sequestration order, and (5) police provided false testimony
at trial.

Roth,
Jr. and three codefendants were charged in connection with a
series of robberies occurring in the Newport and Stanton area
in December 1998. The codefendants were Richard Roth, Sr.,
James Anderson and Moises Ordorica. The first robbery
occurred on December 22, 1998 at the Newport Family
Restaurant. The owner of the restaurant, Maria Perdikis, was
robbed as she closed the business and walked to her car with
the night deposit bag. An armed robber, wearing a mask and
gloves, grabbed her from behind and threatened to kill her if
she did not give him the deposit bag. The robber discharged
pepper spray into Perdikis' face, and she fell to the
ground. The robber then discharged pepper spray into
Perdikis' face again. She heard a second man say,
"What are you doing?" The robbers fled with the
night deposit bag containing approximately $3, 000. Perdikis
told the investigating police officer that she had seen three
men in the bushes that night but did not remember making that
statement at trial.

The
second robbery occurred on December 26, 1998 at Bob's
Adult Bookstore on Route 13. At about 10:00 p.m., the manager
of the bookstore, Mitchell Watson, stepped outside to
investigate the possibility of a break in the cable line
since the television had gone blank and the credit card
machine stopped functioning. When Watson opened the door, a
man entered the store and said, "Hi Mitch." When
Watson turned around, the man was wearing a mask and pointed
a gun at Watson's face. The gunman ordered Watson to step
away from the door. A second masked robber entered holding a
shotgun. The two gunmen in the store communicated with a
third person outside by using a walkie-talkie. The robbers
fled with approximately $3, 000 and several coffee cans that
each contained approximately $100 in quarters or tokens.
Mitchell provided a description of the two gunmen to the
police. The description given by Mitchell, and the
descriptions given by other witnesses to the crimes, were
consistent with Roth, Jr. and James Anderson.

The
most serious offense occurred during the third armed robbery
on New Year's Eve 1998 at the J & R Grocery Store on
East Newport Pike. The owner of the store, Jaime Antunez, was
working inside the shop with his sister, Marisela Rodriguez.
Two gunmen wearing ski masks entered the store. One was armed
with a .38 caliber revolver. The other was armed with a
sawed-off shotgun and a semiautomatic handgun.

As
Antunez struggled with one of the robbers, that gunman's
weapon discharged twice. One shot struck that gunman in the
hand and the other shot grazed his head. The second robber
returned from a back room and fired several shots at Antunez
with the semiautomatic handgun. The robbers took money from
the cash register, exited the grocery store and entered a
getaway car driven by a third person. Antunez survived for
fifty-five days before dying from an infection and pneumonia
caused by the gunshot wounds that were inflicted during the
armed robbery.

A
customer arrived at the J & R Grocery Store during the
course of the robbery. He could see the masked gunmen inside
and did not enter. He provided a description of the gunmen to
police. The police found a sawed-off shotgun at ...

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